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Posted on August 22, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleUkraine warns Belarus against provocations during Zapad military drills, urging European partners to stay vigilant amid security concerns.
KYIV (Reuters) -Ukraine's foreign ministry on Friday warned Minsk against staging provocations during joint Belarus-Russian "Zapad" military drills in September and called on European partners to remain vigilant.
"The build-up of Russian troops on the borders of Ukraine in 2021-2022 took place under the cover of the joint military exercises of Russia and Belarus 'Zapad-2021'. We warn Minsk against reckless provocations," the ministry said on X.
It urged Belarussian authorities "to remain prudent, not to approach the borders and not to provoke" Ukrainian armed forces.
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko has dismissed the idea that Minsk would utilise the exercises to attack its neighbours as "complete nonsense".
The scheduled drills, called "Zapad-2025" (West-2025), have raised security concerns in neighbouring Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.
"The cooperation between the regimes in Moscow and Minsk poses an immediate threat not only to Ukraine, but also to Poland, the Baltic states and all of Europe, and also hinders peaceful efforts of the United States President Donald Trump to end the war," Ukraine's ministry said.
The military exercise will include drills on the planned use of nuclear weapons and the Russian-made, intermediate-range hypersonic Oreshnik missile, according to Belarus' defence minister.
(Reporting by Yuliia Dysa; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Daniel Wallis)
Ukraine's foreign ministry warned Belarus against staging provocations during the joint military drills with Russia, urging them to remain prudent and avoid approaching the borders.
The Zapad military drills, specifically Zapad-2025, are joint exercises between Belarus and Russia that have raised security concerns in neighboring countries like Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia.
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko dismissed Ukraine's concerns, stating that the idea of using the exercises to attack neighbors is 'complete nonsense.'
The military exercises will include drills on the planned use of nuclear weapons and the Russian-made intermediate-range hypersonic Oreshnik missile.
The cooperation between the regimes in Moscow and Minsk poses an immediate threat not only to Ukraine but also to Poland, the Baltic states, and all of Europe, hindering peaceful efforts in the region.
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